A ROTHERHAM drug dealer has been jailed after he tried to flee police on his way to a delivery, reaching speeds of up to 150mph on the A1 before being forced to stop by police.

Thomas Birkbeck, 31, was on his way to Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire to deliver around £5,000 of cannabis to suppliers.

Police pulled him over for a minor traffic matter on the northbound carriageway.

When asked for his insurance, Birkbeck is said to have panicked before driving up a slip road and heading back south down the A1, swerving in and out of traffic, hitting five vehicles and driving at speed along the hard shoulder, York Crown Court was told.

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When he was finally stopped near Boston Spa, police were amazed to find a female passenger in the back of the car with a three-years-old child who was not strapped in, sitting on her lap, described by police as “hysterical”.

One of the police officers involved in the pursuit, Traffic Sergeant Julian Pearson, said: “I looked into the back and saw a hysterical three-year-old.

"It was chilling, upsetting and... just the sheer thought that, had that vehicle crashed, that child would have died. And, could I have lived with myself knowing that?”

NORTH YORKSHIRE POLICE

Thomas Birkbeck was jailed after leading police on a 150mph car chase

Police also found cannabis worth £5,000 in the boot of the grey Audi A4.

When sentencing Birkbeck, Judge Deborah Sherwin said his driving had been “truly appalling”.

She added that anyone who saw police footage of the chase “would be horrified” that the maximum sentence she could hand down for the offence of dangerous driving was two years.

She told the Birkbeck that he had an “appalling” record of drug and driving offences, which included being banned eight times previously.

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She said: “It is nothing short of miraculous that you did not kill yourself or your passenger or that the child was not badly hurt.”

It is miraculous that you did not kill yourself or that the child was not badly hurt

Judge Deborah Sherwin

Keith Whitehouse, defending Birkbeck, said his client had been employed “by people higher up the chain” to deliver the cannabis to Scotch Corner but “panicked and fled” when he saw the police following him.

He added that Birkbeck “deeply regrets” the danger he caused to other road users.

Birkbeck was jailed for 16 months for dangerous driving and an additional four months, to run consecutively, for breaching a suspended sentence.

NORTH YORKSHIRE POLICE

Police found £5,000 worth of cannabis in Birbeck's car

He was also given consecutive jail sentences of four months for driving while disqualified and eight months for possession of cannabis resin with intent to supply, as well being banned from driving for four years.

The woman passenger who was with Birkbeck in the car will face court at a later date on drugs charges.